Want new players? Start marketing it! Increase Silan lvl cap!

[urisk]

There are a lot of pro's and con's regarding Silan. When I first went through RoS, there was NO level cap and totally unlimited trial which meant that people were just staying there and playing a game for free (if memory serves me, at that time there was one player who filled all 5 character slots with lvl 80+ characters with no intention of subscribing)

I tried again with a new account, just to see what difference the lvl cap made and was totally amazed that I had capped out on the combat (Melee and magic) after only ½ a days game play and capped out on harvesting and crafting the next day (agreed that the speed may have been largely due to my familiarisation with Ryzom).

I also couldn't, in all honesty, even explore the Kitin jungle at that level very efficiently and there were still quite a few training missions that were uncompleted (ie Chiangs quests require lvl 25 for the first part and lvl 30 for the remainder).

It may be a step forward to possibly increase the cap to 30-35 in order to allow you to at least, complete ALL the tutorials on Silan, which would also increase your game experience (timewise) and allow you to visit the jungle and see the Kitin (after all, they are the main threat to us Homins).

All that being said, most experienced gamers or even semi-experienced gamers can, in all fairness, assess very quickly if the game they are trialing suits them or not and this may be the case for those that don't wish to subscribe.

[mugendo]

Originally Posted by tr808

They are not bored it is just most people dont flick out 15 euro's as easy as i did after i got the 21 cap in novemeber Dont forget ppl tend to think in lvls not experience

I understand your point there,
But when we look at the level based player whose primary interest is skill levelling....I suggest they leave Silan as soon as possible because it is not a true representation of levelling in the mainland.

[tengheau]

Hiya Mok,
My character Grendal lives on Silan, is 50 in melee and makes q40 HA. he is about to be able to harvest Q40 mats so the volume of his armor making should pick up.

I have noticed a small but steady stream coming in. Steady is good, but I believe the volume I am seeing is not sufficient to turn Cho into a thriving server in the next two months.

I agree the issue is lack of advertising. "18 countries" etc. etc. is great and all, but only volume pays the bills, and I am not seeing what I guess is the volume that will be needed to not only pay those bills but generate active profit, which is not the same thing as bill paying and profit making resulting from staff cuts and other "streamlining".

Right now, I can afford the time and effort to "adopt" new players on Silan, I make them armor and help with Arken and the Kirosta. I believe if there were enough people coming in to make a profit that this effort would first become a full time activity and finally become impossible.

As I have said before, I keep an eye out for RPG games that are pretty and complex, and still I didn't hear about Ryzom until last October. Anyone here who thinks the advertising is sufficient just doesn't have ground to stand on, by definition they have already been sold. There is a huge untapped market out there largely in North America and if they can get a small fraction of that huge market we will be snowed under with folks hollering about needing crafted items in Fairhaven, Pyr, Yrk and even Zora. Then we will know the game is succeeding, right now, I don't think it is at the same risk, but I don't think it is yet viable.

As to the cap level, I also agree, I think it should at least be 34. I think it takes until the mid-thirties to get the max number of play-styles hooked. No Ranger armor though, and I also think there should be a weaker 2H sword before Fire and Wrath, F&W should be one of the gimmees for signing up.

Calevin

[hazira]

Heh I have a few small points to make.

The major one that strikes me in this thread is that Acridiel's mention of advertising taking some time to finalize has either been missed or ignored. If you want to see really good and effective Ryzom adverts it's not going to happen tomorow morning, and they need to be placed in the right spots with the right people, otherwise no matter how much advertising you do a vast majority of potential players may still never hear about it.

Increasing the level cap to 50 isn't necessary, however 21 is a bit low so I vote for 35 on a free account. Which with a team it's possible to finish Chiang's mission line. And yeah getting rid of the leveling points for the missions on Silan would be a good step, that's false advertising imo.

It's true there should be a lot more new players coming in to Cho to fill it up, one of the reasons I've stated before too is that a lot of new players start and stay on Arispotle. If you go to Ari Silan you'll see a massive difference, while Cho is sometimes very, very empty Ari never seems to be.

For my part though I like that Cho isn't popular because those that do come tend to be the players you want to play with... Though I can't deny I've seen people post on regional that they were leaving Silan Cho for Ari because there was no one to group with.. Double edged sword I'm afraid.

All in all I think waiting for summer for advertising news is a good idea.

[acridiel]

Originally Posted by ashling

Not really, there wasn't a cap on Silan before it was set to 21 and they didn't redesign it when they did that.

It was raised for about three weeks, during the finacial troubles...
before that it was at 21 and after that it was at 21.

And if I look into my mirror I see somone who just tries not to see everthing so negative as many of you and tries to be realistic, if not always right, about things.

CU
Acridiel

[freeeax]

Originally Posted by acridiel

It was raised for about three weeks, during the finacial troubles...
before that it was at 21 and after that it was at 21.

And even before there was no cap. iirc the level cap on silan was put there in september, before there was no cap.

[tengheau]

Originally Posted by hazira

The major one that strikes me in this thread is that Acridiel's mention of advertising taking some time to finalize has either been missed or ignored.
.
.
.
All in all I think waiting for summer for advertising news is a good idea.

Ya got me dead-to-rights on that one, I missed it. I was at work, inspired to pontificate and really, *informed* opinions can be *so* exhausting to make.


BTW, just in-case anyone is getting them mixed up, I am given to understand that there isn't a hard level cap for paid accounts, a guildmate reports he had harvesting to 60 before leaving(late January I think). Of course there is a functional level cap for players, as xp dwindles for the Kirosta and the q45 mats.


Calevin

[ashling]

Originally Posted by acridiel

It was raised for about three weeks, during the finacial troubles...
before that it was at 21 and after that it was at 21.

At the very least it was alot longer then three weeks, longer then even three months. When I was on Ruins of Silan for over three weeks back when I first came to Ryzom there was no level cap for free accounts during any of that time and it was months later after I had moved to the mainland that a patch ever mentioned adding a skill cap.

[acridiel]

Originally Posted by tr808

And as last i dont see why the cool adds, as u call them, from Nevrax cant be used now at this time for advertising

Thats btw pretty simple.
There are laws each company has to abide to.
Nevrax, to wich these advertisements belonged formely, does not exist as a corporate entity anymore.
Whilst GF may have bought all things belonging to Ryzom, including of course the Advertisements, they coud not buy the Contracts wich allowed Nevrax to advertise on certain sites.
So all these contracts have to be done anew.
All former advertisement partners have to be asked if they want to continue advertising, and to what conditions. (price)
Magazines and somesuch have to be asked IF they want to set advertisements into thier Outlets and to what price again.

And the list goes on and on...

It simply takes some time to do all that.

Edit: Okok, before you hang yourself on some trivial fact.
I don´t quite now how long the cap was raised, ok? *LOL*


CU
Acridiel

[ashling]

Originally Posted by acridiel

Edit: Okok, before you hang yourself on some trivial fact.
I don´t quite now how long the cap was raised, ok? *LOL*

Nice of you to admit your point about it having had a skill cap before it had none and then had one again is trivial